I read this post before I read my Bible. You didn't disappoint. You're kind of a bad habit that I've fallen into . . . but then you've got a lot of company.
By the way, we went to our teenaged grandson's high school music concert last night. He's a junior and joined the school's orchestra this year where he's taken up the viola. He's never played any musical instrument in his life. I was dreading it because generally these concerts with brand new musicians playing instruments that they've nowhere near mastered are very painful to endure. There were also choirs, beginners and advanced, and one enthusiastic teacher/conductor, Mrs. O'Brian, who spoke to us in both English and then Spanish, mixing the order of whichever language she spoke to us in turns of respectful alternations. Our grandson told me yesterday morning that he was nervous because he didn't feel prepared, and, in truth, he hasn't been practicing his viola much at home, if at all. I told him to just enjoy this experience that he's never had before, that maybe he'll actually like it, and to practice more from now on. He did enjoy it, and so did I, and all the audience. The teenaged choirs, beginners and advanced and combined, all sounded wonderful! It was a great way to spend an evening. I could have hugged Mrs. O'Brian in both English and Spanish for the evident love she has for her students and for music. During the concert, I thought of you and your love for voices lifted up in song.
And one more by the way, I think that I can top your young married living poor experience. During my third year of law school, after I'd lost my part time clerking job that kept me, my young wife and two small children in an apartment of our own, we moved in with her parents who had a small three-bedroom, one bath house. Our seven-year-old son got one of the two spare bedrooms, and our three-year-old daughter got the other. My wife and I got a hastily converted enclosed single-car garage with my father-in-law's tools and standing drill press pushed to the side to make room for our marriage bed and a single dresser. We also had a standing clothes rack in there for some additional ambience. When my law school buddies helped me move our scant belongings into my in-law's home and saw where my wife and I would be sleeping, one of them said to me, "Gawd, Mark, I sure hope that your father-in-law doesn't knock on your door some night when you two are doing it because he needs to find a tool!" That never did happen, but the dread of it has never left me!
Thank you for all that valuable information Garrison. You are one year my senior and we both grew up in Minnesota, and I suspect we went to different churches together.
Minot, or why not Minot back in the day when I was stationed there in the Air Force and working among the Minute Man missiles that were scattered throughout northwest North Dakota. As I recall, it was among the least desired assignments the Air Force had to offer. To escape it after thirteen months, I volunteered to go to a remote site in Alaska. Go figure. But that fact hasn't prevented me from returning when travelling from Washington to Minnesota by car. Maybe it's because I know that I can leave when I want to. But I didn't have to pay for breakfasts at Denny's.
Most Denny's I've eaten at have been good places to eat. There's been one exception. Coming back to Maine from a late winter trip to Florida in our motorhome we camped in a KOA (we're spoiled) in South Carolina which was kind of strange in that navigation the driveways was a task. We decided not to fix breakfast and hit the road so stopped at the Denny's for breakfast on the road out. Horrible mistake. Service took forever and the English Muffins with sausage gravy was cold and terrible. There was no cash register or front desk so we had to go down the hall to the attached Holiday Inn to pay which we did and complained mightily, ask for a discount or refund but they weren't able to do that.
To my ears neither although the Trout Quintet is one of the better. Maine Classical has a whole stack of string quartets, many of which are tortured (and therefore torture the listener) which they insist on playing at mealtime. Sigh.
Denny would have told you some of it, but he was likely behind the counter frying eggs and sausage. Like many Dakotans, he's already milked the cows before he came to work in his restaurant. Some folks up there I got to know a little and they then went off to teach other purposeful kids like you and Denny, all before the sports coaching and milking their cows. What a world and never a complaint....good folks are hard to find like these.
I wasn't bad at math and physics, but because I was bad in choir, I also ended up in woodshop, which led to a satisfying lifetime of making stuff in my spare time. I also am an uncle Jim to some, and spent a manure-covered year as a large animal vet up to my shoulder in the rear end of thousands of dairy cows before retreating to academia for yet another degree, and then decades behind a microscope with much less exposure to fecal matter, which was nice. But being bad at choir didn't dissuade me from singing; I just had to find the singers with the vocal range of bullfrogs. So I am thankful for Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen and love to sing "Dance me to the end of love," in Karaoke bars for my sweet wife.
I'm a semi-retired chemist so I'm pretty good at math and physics as well and I'm a pretty good singer (now a baritone, tenor is painful, and I've lost a lot of the low bass notes) so I've been in church choirs since I was a kid and am now in a Town and Gown Choir at UMaine (we have our own concerts and also sing with the Bangor Symphony once a year in April. Two years ago it was Beethoven's 9th, thrill of a lifetime). In addition, I'm a lifelong Lutheran and Lutherans are always singing even if not in a choir (plus a married a wonderful musician and singer so we sang a lot together).
Once again Garrison, thank you so much for starting my Friday off with a nod, a smile, and even a small tear. You write from the heart with such honesty that it touches me deeply!!
Take care old man (I feel I can say that with respect as I too am an old man) and see you in Galveston!!
I just subscribed as a paid member. I have my fingers crossed that you are changing minds and votes in the heartland, Garrison. Thanks for doing your part!
Once again, I tip my hat to you, GK, for taking your brand of common sense and humor into the heart of MAGAt land. It cannot hurt.
If TFG (The Felonious Guy) wins in November, we will all be tasked with taking JC’s teachings to heart (love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek, and so on). It won’t be easy. We will have no choice, though, but to keep calm and carry on.
On a positive note: Michael Moore is convinced Harris will win, and he’s been right before.
I love finding a post from you in my mail, which is otherwise mostly overrun with useless rants and sales pitches. You help me laugh and take things less serIously. Sometimes I am moved to tears, a religious experience in my book. It’s so good to commiserate and also feel my power as an elder. I am inspired to take care of myself, while not being too hard on this old frame. Thanks!
With writing and insights like these, my wife & I very much looking forward to seeing you live on stage for the first time in London later this month. Keep it up Sir.
You are cloaked in enlightenment. Thanks always for sharing.
Good morning, Garrison. Where to start, cuz the writing we read today is overflowing of humor and honesty. I'll leave it there. rr
I read this post before I read my Bible. You didn't disappoint. You're kind of a bad habit that I've fallen into . . . but then you've got a lot of company.
By the way, we went to our teenaged grandson's high school music concert last night. He's a junior and joined the school's orchestra this year where he's taken up the viola. He's never played any musical instrument in his life. I was dreading it because generally these concerts with brand new musicians playing instruments that they've nowhere near mastered are very painful to endure. There were also choirs, beginners and advanced, and one enthusiastic teacher/conductor, Mrs. O'Brian, who spoke to us in both English and then Spanish, mixing the order of whichever language she spoke to us in turns of respectful alternations. Our grandson told me yesterday morning that he was nervous because he didn't feel prepared, and, in truth, he hasn't been practicing his viola much at home, if at all. I told him to just enjoy this experience that he's never had before, that maybe he'll actually like it, and to practice more from now on. He did enjoy it, and so did I, and all the audience. The teenaged choirs, beginners and advanced and combined, all sounded wonderful! It was a great way to spend an evening. I could have hugged Mrs. O'Brian in both English and Spanish for the evident love she has for her students and for music. During the concert, I thought of you and your love for voices lifted up in song.
And one more by the way, I think that I can top your young married living poor experience. During my third year of law school, after I'd lost my part time clerking job that kept me, my young wife and two small children in an apartment of our own, we moved in with her parents who had a small three-bedroom, one bath house. Our seven-year-old son got one of the two spare bedrooms, and our three-year-old daughter got the other. My wife and I got a hastily converted enclosed single-car garage with my father-in-law's tools and standing drill press pushed to the side to make room for our marriage bed and a single dresser. We also had a standing clothes rack in there for some additional ambience. When my law school buddies helped me move our scant belongings into my in-law's home and saw where my wife and I would be sleeping, one of them said to me, "Gawd, Mark, I sure hope that your father-in-law doesn't knock on your door some night when you two are doing it because he needs to find a tool!" That never did happen, but the dread of it has never left me!
Similar experiences under slightly different conditions I wont go into, here,Maj. You gave me an additional chuckle tonight, Thanx.
Well . . . it's funny now. Then, not so much!
But thank God for families who care for one another, huh?
Thank you for all that valuable information Garrison. You are one year my senior and we both grew up in Minnesota, and I suspect we went to different churches together.
Minot, or why not Minot back in the day when I was stationed there in the Air Force and working among the Minute Man missiles that were scattered throughout northwest North Dakota. As I recall, it was among the least desired assignments the Air Force had to offer. To escape it after thirteen months, I volunteered to go to a remote site in Alaska. Go figure. But that fact hasn't prevented me from returning when travelling from Washington to Minnesota by car. Maybe it's because I know that I can leave when I want to. But I didn't have to pay for breakfasts at Denny's.
A fine place to eat, Denny's. Good folks abound....
Most Denny's I've eaten at have been good places to eat. There's been one exception. Coming back to Maine from a late winter trip to Florida in our motorhome we camped in a KOA (we're spoiled) in South Carolina which was kind of strange in that navigation the driveways was a task. We decided not to fix breakfast and hit the road so stopped at the Denny's for breakfast on the road out. Horrible mistake. Service took forever and the English Muffins with sausage gravy was cold and terrible. There was no cash register or front desk so we had to go down the hall to the attached Holiday Inn to pay which we did and complained mightily, ask for a discount or refund but they weren't able to do that.
Good morning, Garrison
I’d never thought about it like that before, but thinking of The Cloud as a gift from God.
Hmmm…..
Makes a kind of sense now that I think about it.
(And once again, thank you —and The Trout Quintet currently playing on VPR— for a lovely launch to our day.)
To your ears, is the Trout Quintet batter than Death and The Maiden?
To my ears neither although the Trout Quintet is one of the better. Maine Classical has a whole stack of string quartets, many of which are tortured (and therefore torture the listener) which they insist on playing at mealtime. Sigh.
Denny would have told you some of it, but he was likely behind the counter frying eggs and sausage. Like many Dakotans, he's already milked the cows before he came to work in his restaurant. Some folks up there I got to know a little and they then went off to teach other purposeful kids like you and Denny, all before the sports coaching and milking their cows. What a world and never a complaint....good folks are hard to find like these.
Take note!
I wasn't bad at math and physics, but because I was bad in choir, I also ended up in woodshop, which led to a satisfying lifetime of making stuff in my spare time. I also am an uncle Jim to some, and spent a manure-covered year as a large animal vet up to my shoulder in the rear end of thousands of dairy cows before retreating to academia for yet another degree, and then decades behind a microscope with much less exposure to fecal matter, which was nice. But being bad at choir didn't dissuade me from singing; I just had to find the singers with the vocal range of bullfrogs. So I am thankful for Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen and love to sing "Dance me to the end of love," in Karaoke bars for my sweet wife.
I'm a semi-retired chemist so I'm pretty good at math and physics as well and I'm a pretty good singer (now a baritone, tenor is painful, and I've lost a lot of the low bass notes) so I've been in church choirs since I was a kid and am now in a Town and Gown Choir at UMaine (we have our own concerts and also sing with the Bangor Symphony once a year in April. Two years ago it was Beethoven's 9th, thrill of a lifetime). In addition, I'm a lifelong Lutheran and Lutherans are always singing even if not in a choir (plus a married a wonderful musician and singer so we sang a lot together).
Once again Garrison, thank you so much for starting my Friday off with a nod, a smile, and even a small tear. You write from the heart with such honesty that it touches me deeply!!
Take care old man (I feel I can say that with respect as I too am an old man) and see you in Galveston!!
I just subscribed as a paid member. I have my fingers crossed that you are changing minds and votes in the heartland, Garrison. Thanks for doing your part!
Thanks for starting my day with a smile and a time to reflect on life.
Once again, I tip my hat to you, GK, for taking your brand of common sense and humor into the heart of MAGAt land. It cannot hurt.
If TFG (The Felonious Guy) wins in November, we will all be tasked with taking JC’s teachings to heart (love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek, and so on). It won’t be easy. We will have no choice, though, but to keep calm and carry on.
On a positive note: Michael Moore is convinced Harris will win, and he’s been right before.
We should be tasked with JC's teachings anyway, something not done by the MAGA "Christians".
I love finding a post from you in my mail, which is otherwise mostly overrun with useless rants and sales pitches. You help me laugh and take things less serIously. Sometimes I am moved to tears, a religious experience in my book. It’s so good to commiserate and also feel my power as an elder. I am inspired to take care of myself, while not being too hard on this old frame. Thanks!
With writing and insights like these, my wife & I very much looking forward to seeing you live on stage for the first time in London later this month. Keep it up Sir.
Have you stopped Post to the Host? Or am I missing something